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LINCOLN  ROOM 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
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COMMANDERS  SWE  *  PENNSYLVANIA. 


CEREMONIES  IN  COMMEMORATION 

OF    THE    ONE    HUNDREDTH    ANNI- 
VERSARY    OF     THE      BIRTH      OF 

ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

PHILADELPHIA   FEBRUARY  12    1909 


MILITARY  ORDER  OF  THE  LOYAL  LEGION 
OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

COMMANDERY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 


PHILADELPHIA  1909 


■.--■■—,  ■■  ■     ■■    .    ■  ■   ■■■■  ...  ■■  . 


Brevet  Lieut. -Colonel  John  P.  Nicholson  Compiler 


Military  Order  of  the  Loyal  Legion  of  the 

United  States 

COMMANDERY   OF   THE   STATE   OF   PENNSYLVANIA 


Celebration  of  the  One  Hundredth  Anniversary 

OF  THE 

Birth  of  Abraham  Lincoln 


American  Academy  of  Music 
February  12  1909  P.  M. 


"  I  am  not  bound  to  win 
But  I  am  bound  to  be  true." 

— Abraham  Lincoln 


Concert  from  7.15  P.  M.  to  8.15  P.  M. 

The  Band  of  the  United  States  Marine  Corps 
Professor  WM.  H.  SANTELMANN  Leader 


PROGRAMME 

8.15  P.  M. 

SCENE 

The  Birthplace  of  Lincoln 

Hardin  (La  Rue  Co.)  Kentucky  February  12  1809 


PRESIDING 

Rear-Admiral  George  W.  Melville  U.  S.  N. 

Commander  of  the  Commandery 


"REVEILLE" 
"Call  all  hands." 

3 


PRAYER 
Captain  J.  Richards  Boyle  D.  D. 

Chaplain  of  the  Commandery 


"Columbia,  the  Gem  of  the  Ocean" 

The  Band  of  the  United  States  Marine  Corps 


ORATION 

Brevet  Major-General  Joshua  L.  Chamderlain 

Commander  of  First  Division  Fifth  Corps  Army  of  the  Potomac 

Awarded  the  "Medal  of  Honor"  under  the  resolution  of  Congress 
"for  daring  heroism,  and  great  tenacity  in  holding  his  position  on 
the  Little  Round  Top,  and  carrying  the  advance  position  on  the 
Great  Round  Top,  at  the  Battle  of  Gettysburg,  Pa.,  July  2,  1863." 


"  The  Battle  Hymn  of  the  Republic  " 

The  Band  of  the  United  States  Marine  Corps 


THE  SECOND  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS  OF  PRESIDENT  LINCOLN 

Captain  John  P.  Green  U.  S.  V. 

Of  the  Commandery 


"America  " 

The  Band  of  the  LTnited  States  Marine  Corps 


POEM 

LINCOLN 
Hermann  Hagedorn  Esq. 

Read  by  the  Author 


ADDRESS  AT  THE  DEDICATION  OF  THE  CEMETERY  AT 
GETTYSBURG  PA.  NOVEMBER  19  1863 

Brevet  Major  R.  Dale  Benson  U.  S.  V. 
Of  the  Commandery 


"The  Star  Spangled  Banner" 

The  Band  of  the  United  States  Marine  Corps 

4 


Commemoration  of  the  One  Hundredth 

Anniversary  of  the  Birth  of 

Abraham  Lincoln. 

Rear  Admiral  George  W.  Melville  U.  S.  N.  Presiding. 


Companions,  Shipmates,  and  Ladies: 

It  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  announce  to  you  the  reasons  for 
our  meeting  here  tonight. 

I  am  pleased  to  say  that  the  Nation  has  set  apart  this  day 
in  commemoration  of  the  birth  of  the  greatest  American  of 
modern  times.  We  have  had  our  Washington,  Hamilton,  Cal- 
houn, and  Webster  of  more  modern  times.  Men  of  all  shades 
of  politics  and  policies,  but  it  remained  for  the  greatest  glory 
to  fall  upon  the  head  and  shoulders  of  the  great  emancipator, 
and  though  republican  in  name,  the  greatest  democrat  in  all 
that  it  means  as  a  man  of  the  people,  Abraham  Lincoln. 

We  are  here  to  add  our  meed  of  praise  and  show  our  apprecia- 
tion of  America's  greatest  statesman,  and  who  is  better  qualified, 
or  more  appreciative  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  than  these  old 
warriors  of  the  Army  and  Navy.  Men  old  and  worn,  who  in 
the  glad  young  days  of  their  youth  gave  all  we  had,  of  life  and 
limb,  to  uphold  the  hands  of  our  President  and  save  a  Nation 
and  the  Liberties  of  our  people  for  all  time. 


PRAYER. 

Captain  J.  Richards  Boyle  D.  D. 

Almighty  and  Most  Merciful  God,  Our  Heavenly  Father, 
before  the  mountains  were  brought  forth,  or  ever  Thou  hadst 
formed  the  earth  and  the  world,  even  from  everlasting  to  ever- 
lasting Thou  art  God!  Thou  art  the  blessed  and  only  Potentate, 
the  King  of  Kings  and  Lord  of  Lords,  who  alone  hath  immortal- 
ity, and  who  dwelleth  in  the  light  that  no  man  can  approach 
unto!  Heaven  is  Thy  throne,  the  earth  is  Thy  footstool,  and 
Thy  Kingdom  ruleth  over  all! 

In  the  presence  and  in  the  name  of  this  great  outpouring 
of  American  patriotism  and  brotherhood,  and  on  this  inspiring 
Centennial  Anniversary,  we  humbly  and  reverently  adore  and 
worship  Thee,  and  solemnly  await  Thy  divine  presence  and 
blessing. 

We  thank  Thee,  O  God,  for  Thy  gracious  and  manifest  Provi- 
dence which  has  been  vouchsafed  our  Nation  from  its  birth  in 
this  fair  city  nearly  a  century  and  a  third  ago.  We  thank  Thee 
for  the  sagacious  and  sacrificial  men  who  here  and  then  gave 
to  mankind  a  new  civilization,  consecrated  to  human  liberty, 
and— appealing  to  Thee  for  guidance, — pledged  to  its  defence 
their  lives,  their  fortunes,  and  their  sacred  honor.  We  thank 
Thee  for  our  brave  forefathers  who  with  bleeding  feet  bore  the 
new  flag  over  the  sanguinary  fields  of  the  War  of  Independence; 
and  for  that  glorious  soldier  and  patriot,  the  noble  Washington, 
who  led  them  to  final  victory,  and  whose  character  and  fame 
are  enshrined  in  our  hearts  forever.  We  thank  Thee  for  the  long 
and  unbroken  line  of  statesmen,  educators  and  heroes  who, 
under  Thy  Providence,  have  guided  our  public  destinies  on 
from  that  early  day  until  the  present  hour,  in  ever  increasing 
honor  and  power  and  glory. 

We  thank  Thee  most  especially  tonight  for  our  heroes  of  the 
War  of  the  Rebellion,  in  the  field,  the  state,  and  the  church,  who 
amid  sufferings  incredible  and  with  fortitude  invincible  rescued 


our  beloved  Nation  when  it  was  violently  threatened  with  dis- 
memberment and  death.  And  above  all  these  we  thank  Thee 
now  and  always  for  that  supreme  and  colossal  man,  Abraham 
Lincoln,  who  stands  forth  forever  among  these  later  heroes,  taller 
than  the  tallest,  greater  than  the  greatest,  better  than  the  best. 
Thine  own  Infinite  Hand  fashioned  him  from  the  clay  of  our 
common  humanity.  Thy  ministry  trained  him  in  the  severe 
struggles  of  his  early  life  for  his  high  responsibilities  and  his 
unexampled  burdens  and  achievements.  The  light  of  Thy 
Spirit  baptized  his  mighty  brain.  The  love  of  Thy  heart  filled 
his  great  soul.  The  rectitude  of  Thy  eternal  law  was  enthroned 
within  his  incorruptible  conscience.  He  was  Thine  own  chosen 
Apostle  of  patriotism  and  liberty  to  our  imperilled  people. 
We  most  devoutly  thank  Thee  for  his  providential  call  and  ap- 
pearance in  the  hour  of  our  deep  darkness  and  cruel  trial;  and 
for  the  magnetism  of  his  person,  the  eloquence  of  his  tongue  and 
pen,  the  wisdom  of  his  mind,  and  the  boundless  tenderness  and 
toleration  of  his  loving  heart.  We  thank  Thee  for  the  freedom 
he  gave  to  a  race  long  oppressed  in  bondage,  for  the  civic  and 
moral  regeneration  he  wrought  out  for  the  whole  Nation,  and 
for  the  fact  that  his  sacred  blood, — so  foully  and  wickedly  shed — 
has  cemented  for  all  time  the  foundations  of  our  Republic. 
Like  Abraham  of  old  this  modern  Abraham  was  the  friend 
of  God  and  he  is  the  father  of  new  generations  of  faithful  men. 
He  was  Thy  servant  ,and  he  is  our  beloved  Chief. 

We  pray  Thy  blessing  to  rest  upon  his  name,  his  memory, 
his  deeds  and  his  influence  forevermore.  We  implore  Thy 
favor  upon  his  only  living  son  and  his  family;  upon  all  the 
survivors  of  the  Civil  War  and  their  loved  ones;  upon  the  dis- 
tinguished and  partiotic  Order  under  whose  auspices  we  are 
here  assembled ;  upon  their  Companions  throughout  the  land ; 
and  upon  all  similar  assemblages  of  our  people  who  are  commem- 
orating this  anniversary.  We  beseech  Thee  to  bless  the  President 
of  the  United  States  who  is  so  soon  to  lay  aside  the  cares  of  State, 
and  his  chosen  successor  who  within  a  few  days  is  to  assume  his 
high  and  responsible  duties.  Grant,  we  pray  Thee,  that  inter- 
national peace,  domestic  tranquility,  and  great  prosperity  may 
abound  under  his  administration.  Bless  all  our  States, — their 
officers,  their  people,  their  business,  their  schools,  their  charities 
and  their  homes.     Bless  this  great  and  kindly  city  and  all  our 


communities.  Lead  our  Nation  forward  through  all  coming 
years  in  the  unfolding  of  manly  and  womanly  character,  in 
undisturbed  brotherhood,  and  in  Thy  faith  and  love,  and  save 
our  children's  children  through  all  generations.  And  unto  Thee, 
Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost,  we  shall  ascribe  praise,  and  honor, 
and  glory,  world  without  end.     Amen. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

Brevet  Major-General  Joshua  L.  Chamberlain. 

Great  crises  in  human  affairs  call  out  the  great  in  men. 
They  call  for  great  men.  This  greatness  is  of  quality  rather 
than  quantity.  It  is  not  intensified  selfhood,  nor  multiplied 
possessions.  It  implies  extraordinary  powers  to  cope  with  diffi- 
cult situations;  but  it  implies  still  more,  high  purpose — the 
intent  to  turn  these  powers  to  the  service  of  man.  Its  essence 
is  of  magnanimity.  Some  have  indeed  thought  it  great  to  seize 
occasion  in  troubled  times  to  aggrandize  themselves.  And 
something  slavish  in  the  lower  instincts  of  human  nature  seems 
to  grant  their  claim.  Kings  and  conquerors  have  been  named 
"great"  because  of  the  magnificence  of  the  servitude  they  have 
been  able  to  command,  or  the  vastness  of  their  conquests,  or 
even  of  the  ruin  they  have  wrought. 

But  true  greatness  is  not  in  nor  of  the  single  self;  it  is  of 
that  larger  personality,  that  shared  and  sharing  life  with  others, 
in  which,  each  giving  of  his  best  for  their  betterment,  we  are 
greater  than  ourselves;  and  self-surrender  for  the  sake  of  that 
great  belonging,  is  the  true  nobility. 

The  heroes  of  history  are  not  self-seekers;  they  are  saviors. 
They  give  of  their  strength  to  the  weak,  the  wronged,  the 
imperilled.  Suffering  and  sacrifice  they  take  on  themselves. 
Summoned  by  troubles,  they  have  brought  more  than  peace; 
they  have  brought  better  standing  and  understanding  for  human 
aspirations.  Their  mastery  is  for  truth  and  right;  that  is  for 
man.  Hence  they  are  reverenced  and  beloved  through  the 
ages.  If  we  mourn  the  passing  of  the  heroic  age,  all  the  more 
conspicuous  and  honored  is  heroic  example,  still  vouchsafed  to 
ours. 

There  are  crises  yet,  when  powers  and  susceptibilities  of 
good  fevered  with  blind  unrest  and  trembling  for  embodiment 
seem  turned  to  mutual  destruction.  Happy  then  the  hour  when 
comes  the  strong  spirit,  master  because  holding  self  to  a  higher 


obedience,  the  impress  of  whose  character  is  command.  He 
comes  to  mould  these  elemental  forces  not  to  his  own  will,  but 
to  their  place  in  the  appointed  order  of  the  ongoing  world.  For 
lack  of  such  men  the  march  of  human  right  has  so  many  times 
been  halted — hence  the  dire  waste  of  noble  endeavor;  grandeur 
of  martyrdoms  uplifted  in  vain;  high  moments  of  possibility 
lost  to  mankind. 

There  came  upon  our  country,  in  our  day,  a  crisis,  a  momen- 
tous peril,  a  maddened  strife  such  as  no  description  can  portray, 
nor  simile  shadow  forth ;  volcanic  eruption,  earthquake,  up- 
whelming  seas  of  human  force  involving  in  their  sweep  agonies 
and  destruction  such  as  the  catastrophies  of  Italy  never  wrought; 
not  merely  the  measurable  material  loss,  but  the  immeasurable 
spiritual  cost;  the  maddened  attempt  to  rend  asunder  this  or- 
dained Union,  this  People  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
a  government  by  divine  right,  if  anything  on  earth  can  be  so. 
The  shock  was  deep  and  vast.  It  was  the  convulsion  of  a  historic 
and  commissioned  people.  It  was  the  dissolution  of  covenants 
that  had  held  diverse  rights  and  powers  in  poise;  collision  of 
forces  correlated  to  secure  unity  and  order, — now  set  loose 
against  each  other,  working  destruction.  It  was  more  than  the 
conflict  of  laws,  clash  of  interests,  disharmony  of  ideas  and  prin- 
ciples. It  was  the  sundering  of  being;  war  of  self  against  self; 
of  sphere  against  sphere  in  the  concentric  order  of  this  great 
composite  national  life  of  ours. 

For  us  the  aggregate  human  wisdom  had  been  found  wanting. 
Conventions,  Congresses  and  compromises  had  failed;  the 
heights  of  argument,  sentiment  and  eloquence  had  been  scaled 
in  vain;  the  mighty  bond  of  historic  memories,  patriotism  and 
christian  fellowship  had  been  dissolved  in  that  ferment.  Had 
a  committee  of  wisest  men  been  chosen, — expert  doctors  of  law, 
medicine  and  divinity, — nay  the  twelve  apostles  themselves 
been  summoned, — to  determine  what  combination  of  qualities 
must  mark  the  man  who  could  mount  above  this  storm,  make 
his  voice  heard  amidst  these  jarring  elements,  and  command 
the  "law  of  the  mind"  to  prevail  over  the  "law  in  the  members," 
they  could  not  have  completed  their  inventory,  nor  have  found 
the  man  of  such  composition. 

It  was  a  divine  providence  which  brought  forth  the  man,  to 
execute  the  divine  decree,  in  a  crisis  of  human  history. 

10 


It  was  a  strange  presentment  and  personality, — this  deliverer 
this  servant  and  master,  this  follower  and  leader  of  the  law; — 
strange,  and  not  readily  accepted  of  men.  Out  of  the  unknown, 
and  by  ways  that  even  he  knew  not,  came  to  this  place  of  power, 
Abraham  Lincoln. 

He  came  mysteriously  chosen;  not  by  the  custom  of  hereditary 
descent,  not  by  the  concurrence  of  his  peers,  but  by  the  instinc- 
tive voice  of  a  predestined  people.  Called  because  he  was  chosen ; 
chosen,  because  he  was  already  choice.  The  voice  came  to  him 
as  to  the  deliverer  of  old:  "Be  strong,  and  of  a  good  courage, 
for  thou  must  go  with  this  people  unto  the  land  which  the  Lord 
hath  sworn  to  their  fathers  to  give  them.  And  thou  shall  cause 
them  to  inherit  it!" 

This  one  man  called  to  the  task.  Millions  of  them  could  not 
meet  it.  He  could.  The  order  to  be  strong  and  of  a  good 
courage  came  to  him  because  he  was  that  already.  There  was 
that  in  him  which  this  order  appealed  to  and  rested  on.  A 
weak  man  could  uot  even  receive  it. 

So,  this  deliverer  of  ours.  Courtly  manners  and  culture  of  the 
schools  he  did  not  bring.  But  moulded  and  seasoned  strength, 
calm  courage,  robust  sense,  he  brought;  and  a  heart  to  humanize 
it  all.  His  inherent  and  potential  greatness  was  his  power  of 
reason  and  sense  of  right,  and  a  magnanimity  which  regarded 
the  large  and  long  interests  of  man  more  than  the  near  and  small 
of  self.  Strength  and  courage  are  much  the  same;  in  essence, 
in  action,  and  in  passion, — the  ability  to  bear.  These  qualities 
were  of  the  whole  man; — mind,  heart  and  will.  Intellect  keen 
yet  broad;  able  in  both  insight  and  comprehension;  taking  in 
at  once  the  details  of  a  situation,  and  also  its  unity  and  larger 
relations.  He  knew  men  in  their  common  aspects,  and  he  knew 
man  in  his  potential  excellence.  Courage  of  will  was  his:  power 
to  face  dangers  without  and  within;  to  resist  the  pressure  of 
force  or  of  false  suggestion;  standing  to  his  conviction;  firm 
against  minor  persuasions;  silencing  temptation.  Courage 
of  the  heart;  power  to  resolve,  and  to  endure;  to  suffer  and  to 
wait.     His  patience  was  pathetic. 

Courage  of  faith;  belief  in  the  empowering  force  of  his  obli- 
gation. Wise  to  adjust  policies  to  necessity,  he  kept  sight  of 
his  ideal.  Amidst  mockeries  of  truth,  he  was  "obedient  unto 
the    heavenly   vision."     Through    the    maze    of   false   beacons 

n 


and  bewildering  beckonings,  he  steered  by  the  star.  Above  the 
recalling  bugles  of  disaster  and  defeat  he  heard  the  voice  of  his 
consecration,  and  held  it  pledge  and  prophecy.  These  qualities, 
coordinated  and  commanded  by  wise  judgment,  and  sustained 
by  a  peculiar  buoyancy  of  temperament,  constituted  a  personal- 
ity remarkable,  if  not  solitary,  among  the  great  men  of  our  time. 

Before  this  assembly  of  the  Loyal  Legion  it  is  natural  to  con- 
sider Abraham  Lincoln  as  he  was  presented  to  our  observation 
and  experience  in  the  military  sphere;  not  as  Chief  Executive 
in  the  common  phrase  of  ordinary  times,  but  as  representative 
of  the  nation  before  the  world,  and  clothed  with  its  power. 
That  is,  as  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  army  and  navy  of  the 
United  States,  in  an  insurrection  so  vast  as  to  involve  nations 
over  the  seas.  A  secondary  title  might  be:  The  Revelation  of 
the  War  Powers  of  the  President. 

The  situation  Lincoln  confronted  was  without  parallel;  in 
magnitude,  in  complexity,  in  consequence.  The  immediate 
and  pressing  object  was  manifest.  To  overcome  the  embattled 
hostile  forces;  to  quell  the  rebellion;  to  restore  the  honor  and 
authority  of  the  American  Union;  to  preserve  the  existence  of 
the  people  of  the  United  States. 

But  this  involved  much  more.  There  are  no  single  lines  in 
human  affairs.  Cross-currents  of  interest,  sentiment  and 
passion  confused  the  motives,  embarrassed  the  movements, 
and  clouded  the  issues,  of  this  new  declaration  that  this  people 
should  be  one  and  free. 

Much  had  to  be  met  that  force  could  not  manage ;  much  that 
sharpest  insight  and  outlook  could  not  foresee.  Not  only  the 
direct  event  of  battle  was  involved,  but  the  collateral  effects 
and  continuing  consequences;  the  far-reaching  interests  of  a  great 
people  yet  to  be;  the  interests  of  related  nations,  and  of  humanity 
itself. 

Little  experienced  in  administrative  functions  and  unfamiliar 
with  the  art  of  war,  he  had  to  take  the  chief  responsibility  in 
both.  He  had  much  to  learn,  and  was  willing  to  learn  it.  But 
not  in  haste.  In  some  matters  he  came  slowly  to  the  execution 
of  his  conviction,  as  possibly  to  the  conviction  itself.  But 
his  judgments  were  based  on  what  was  sincere  in  his  nature, 
and  large  in  motive.  That  he  took  no  counsel  from  fear  is  mani- 
fest.    Evading  the  assassins  hired  to  waylay  his  path  to  the 

12 


place  of  duty,  and  the  no  less  infamous  plots  to  prevent  the  count- 
ing of  the  electoral  vote  and  the  announcement  of  his  election, 
he  stood  up  and  faced  the  menacing,  cleaving  masses  in  the 
beleagured  capital. 

He  chose  his  cabinet  of  official  advisers  in  a  novel  way,  and,  one 
might  think,  hazardous;  but  it  showed  the  breadth  of  his  patriot- 
ism and  the  courage  of  his  independence.  Instead  of  seeking 
those  of  like  thinking  with  himself,  or  likely  to  make  a  unity 
among  themselves  on  public  questions,  he  called  men  who  were 
rival  candidates  or  popular  in  their  respective  localities;  even 
offering  places  to  distinguished  statesmen  in  Virginia  and  North 
Carolina.  And  Seward,  Chase,  Cameron,  Welles,  Bates,  Blair 
and  Smith,  and  afterwards  Stanton, — what  measure  of  agree- 
ment with  him  or  each  other,  on  any  point  of  public  policy, 
could  be  expected  from  a  council  like  this!  Most  of  these  men, 
no  doubt,  at  first  thought  slightingly  of  him.  But  he  converted 
or  over-awed  them  all.     He  went  straight  on. 

He  found  more  trouble  in  the  military  sphere.  The  popular, 
or  political  principle  of  appointment  would  not  work  so  well 
here.  It  took  some  time  and  trial  to  rectify  this,  and  make 
practical  tests  of  ability  the  basis.  It  was  unfortunate  that  it 
took  so  long  to  secure  a  nominal  military  chief,  who  had  the 
soldierly  brain  and  eye  and  hand  to  command  the  confidence 
of  his  subordinates  as  well  as  of  his  superiors. 

But  even  among  his  generals  in  the  field  there  was  a  lack  of 
harmony  and  a  redundance  of  personality.  He  had  to  over- 
rule this.  He  was  their  responsible  commander.  He  made  him- 
self their  practical  adviser.  This  latter  function  some  of  them 
undertook  to  make  reciprocal.  They  did  not  gain  much  by 
it.  His  sharp  rejoinders,  winged  with  wit  and  feathered  with 
humor, — as  apposite  as  unexpected, — stirred  the  smiles  of  all 
but  the  immediate  recipients.  But  they  commanded  the  sober 
respect  of  all,  as  uncommon  lessons  of  good  common  sense, — 
which  is  also  and  always  good  tactics. 

We  behold  him  solitary  in  the  arena;  surrounded  by  various 
antagonists  and  unsympathising  spectators.  He  had  to  deal 
with  cabinet,  Congress,  committees,  diplomatists,  cranks, 
wiseacres,  as  well  as  the  embattled  enemy  on  land  and  sea. 

Sorely  tried  by  long  delays  in  the  field,  he  was  vexed  by  the 
incessant   clamor   of    the   excited    and    unthinking,    and    of   in- 

13 


fluential  persons  and  papers  that  beset  him  with  the  demand 
to  free  the  slaves,  and  the  reckless  cry,  "On  to  Richmond," 
which  may  have  forced  campaigns  of  disaster.  Perils  from 
lurking  traitors  in  the  capital,  pesterings  of  open  or  secret  ene- 
mies and  rash  and  weak  advisers,  augmented  the  difficulties 
of  the  momentous  contention.  All  the  while,  with  heart-crushing 
things  to  bear,  which  he  would  not  openly  notice, — nor  let  us, 
now!  We  cannot  but  wonder  how  he  ever  lived  through,  to 
crown  his  work  with  a  death  so  tragic,  an  ascension  so  trans- 
figuring. 

But  he  was  appointed  for  great  ends; and  this  was  his  guaranty 
of  life! 

Let  us  note  more  particularly  some  of  the  difficulties  which 
environed  the  president  growing  out  of  the  magnitude  and  ex- 
terior complications  of  this  great  rebellion. 

At  first  we  looked  upon  the  rebellion  as  a  domestic  insurrection, 
to  be  dealt  with  by  the  provisions  and  processes  of  municipal 
law.  But  facts  forced  us  from  that  theory.  Laws,  no  less  than 
tactics,  change  with  magnitudes.  As  the  range  and  force  of 
the  rebellion  grew,  and  conditions  became  more  complex,  the 
president  had  to  enlarge  his  policy,  and  the  grounds  of  its 
justification. 

One  of  the  first  warlike  acts  of  the  Confederate  States  was  to 
send  forth  armed  cruisers,  commissioned  by  "Letters  of  Marque" 
to  prey  upon  our  merchant-ships  and  commerce  on  the  seas. 
We  could  not  treat  these  cruisers  as  a  domestic  insurrectionary 
force,  because  they  were  operating  on  the  "high  seas," — the 
road  of  the  nations;  nor  could  we  treat  them  as  pirates, 
and  apply  to  their  captured  crews  the  summary  process  of  a 
short  rope  at  the  yard-arm,  because  they  were  only  "domestic 
enemies,"  and  did  not  come  under  the  "pirate"  definition  of 
international  law,  as  "enemies  of  mankind."  So  we  had  to 
submit  to  their  enjoying  certain  privileges  recognized  by  the 
law  of  nations,  and  admit  their  captured  crews  to  exchange 
as  prisoners  of  war. 

Nor  could  we  treat  the  armed  forces  of  the  rebellion  as  a 
"mob,"  because  they  were  in  such  force  and  form  that  they  had 
to  be  treated  under  the  laws  of  war, — presumed  to  be  part  of 
the  law  of  nations.  Yet  we  could  not  recognize  the  Confederacy 
as  a  nation,  and  a  proper  party  to  such  agreement  or  practice. 

14 


Moreover,  the  president  had  instituted  a  blockade  of  Southern 
ports,  a  measure  better  known  to  international,  than  to  domestic 
law.  So  it  came  about  that  the  very  magnitude  of  the  rebellion, 
and  its  extent  on  land  and  sea,  compelled  us,  both  on  grounds 
of  public  law  and  on  grounds  of  humanity,  to  extend  to  our 
formidable  antagonists  some  degree  of  the  regulations  known 
as  "belligerent  rights."  But  belligerents  are  presumed,  in  law 
at  least,  to  be  aliens  to  each  other;  not  fellow-citizens.  Hence 
great  perplexity  for  the  president. 

But  the  situation  now  affected  other  nations.  Here  opens  a 
painful  chapter  of  that  sad  experience.  And  I  have  to  ask  your 
attention  for  a  moment  to  difficulties  outside  the  domestic 
sphere,  which  from  the  very  first  to  the  very  last,  were  among 
the  most  trying  of  the  president's  experiences.  He  was  con- 
fronted by  an  exterior  circle  of  hostile  intent  and  action  in  the 
strange  unfriendliness  of  nations, — perhaps  I  should  say,  gov- 
ernments of  nations, — historically  and  racially  nearest  to  us, 
and  professing  principles  and  sentiments  deeply  accordant  with 
our  own. 

The  governments  of  England  and  France  did  not  wait  for  a 
distinct  good  understanding  upon  international  relations. 
They  took  the  earliest  possible  occasion  to  declare  their  neutral- 
ity, and  to  put  the  insurgents  on  the  full  footing  of  lawful  belliger- 
ents. They  even  denominated  them  as  "States,"  thus  ignoring 
their  character  as  insurgents.  This  was  the  more  trying  because 
early  in  the  discussion  of  the  situation,  our  Government  had  dis- 
tinctly declared  to  the  British  Government  that  "No  proposition 
would  be  considered  which  did  not  regard  this  as  a  domestic 
insurrection,  with  which  foreign  nations  had  no  concern." 

This  recognition  by  England  and  France,  followed  by  other 
governments,  gave  the  Confederate  cruisers  wide  privileges 
on  the  "high  seas,"  and  in  foreign  ports,  and  a  certain  prestige 
to  the  Confederate  claim  before  the  world, 

Then  came  the  severe  trial  for  the  president  when  Captain 
Wilkes  of  our  navy  took  from  an  English  steamer  on  the  high 
seas  Messieurs  Mason  and  Slidell, — diplomatic  agents  of  the  Con- 
federacy for  France  and  England, — and  conveyed  them  to  Boston 
in  custody;  our  Secretary  of  the  Navy  officially  congratulating 
Wilkes,  and  the  House  of  Representatives  voting  him  the  thanks 
of  Congress;  the  British  Government  in  a  rage;  Lord  Russell  in 

15 


imperious  tones  demanding  an  apology,  the  instant  delivery 
of  Mason  and  Slidell,  and  the  dismissal  of  Wilkes  from  our 
service;  forthwith  embarking  troops  for  Canada,  and  gathering 
vast  munitions  of  war;  engaging  the  whole  power  of  the  Empire 
to  enforce  his  demand  if  it  was  not  instantly  obeyed.  The 
wisdom  and  moral  strength  with  which  the  president  met  this 
most  difficult  situation, — yielding  in  a  manner  appeasing  England 
and  not  humiliating  to  our  Country, — is  of  highest  example. 

Then  during  all  the  years  of  the  war,  England  permitted  the 
building  and  equipping  within  her  jurisdiction  and  territory 
of  ships  intended  as  Confederate  cruisers,  and  for  the  known 
purpose  of  warring  upon  the  commerce  of  the  United  States. 
This  went  on  in  disregard  of  every  protest,  until  the  end  of  the 
war,  we  were  in  a  position  to  ask  England  to  consider  the  ques- 
tion of  damages;  and  a  Board  of  Arbitration  awarded  as  a 
minimum,  fifteen  millions  of  dollars.  Had  the  decision  been 
otherwise,  and  England  sustained,  we  probably  could  have  borne 
it.  But  England,  in  case  of  a  rebellion  in  some  of  her  depend- 
encies, would  have  been  astonished  at  the  fleets  of  rebel  cruisers 
investigating  her  commerce  on  all  seas. 

At  best,  France  and  England  were  reluctant  and  perfunctory 
observers  of  neutrality,  and  anything  but  cordial  well-wishers. 
All  the  while  they  were  eager  for  a  pretence  of  reason  to  recog- 
nize the  independence  of  the  Confederate  States. 

It  was  believed  by  us  all  in  the  army  marching  to  the  unknown 
field  predestined  to  be  immortal  Gettysburg,  that  upon  the  issue 
of  this  battle  hung  the  fate  of  the  nation;  that  should  Lee's 
army  gain  a  decided  advantage  here,  these  two  governments 
would  seize  the  moment  to  declare  the  independent  sovereignty 
of  the  Confederate  States,  and  accord  such  recognition  and  sup- 
port as  would  bring  the  end  of  our  great  endeavor.  You  may 
well  believe  that  this  conviction  had  part  in  the  superhuman 
marching  and  fighting  which  made  that  a  field  of  deathless  glory. 
It  gave  us  new  devotion.  It  seemed  to  lift  the  whole  scene  and 
scale  of  the  contention  to  a  higher  plane.  We  were  fighting 
not  only  forces  in  the  field,  but  with  spiritual  foes  in  high  places, 
with  "the  princes  of  the  powers  of  the  air." 

A  serious  flank-movement,  which  gave  the  president  much 
anxiety,  was  the  occupation  of  Mexico  by  the  French  Emperor. 
After  various  vexing  schemes,  he  chose  the  darkest  hour    for 

16 


that  Republic  and  ours,  to  send  a  French  army  to  force  a  mon- 
archy, with  an  Austrian  arch-duke  as  Emperor,  on  the  people 
of  Mexico.  Besides  the  direct  effect  on  us,  this  scheme  of  plant- 
ing a  hostile  monarchial  power  on  our  southern  border,  had  an 
ulterior  motive, — to  gain  a  vantage  ground  from  which,  by  some 
turn  of  tangled  affairs,  to  recover  a  hold  on  the  old  Louisiana 
tract,  and  the  control  of  the  lower  Mississippi.  In  his  eagerness 
Louis  over-reached  himself.  His  formal  proposal  to  the  Con- 
federates to  cede  to  him,  in  the  name  of  France,  the  great  State 
of  Texas,  angered  them,  and  lost  him  the  game.  But  he  kept 
his  army  in  Mexico,  fighting  its  people,  with  Maximillian  as 
nominal  head,  or  catapult,  and  under  the  increasing  remonstrance 
of  our  far-sighted  president. 

Some  of  us  remember,  at  the  disbandment  of  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac,  being  retained  in  the  service  and  assigned  to  a 
mysterious  Provisional  Corps  of  veterans;  the  intent  and  mission 
of  which,  we  were  confidentially  informed,  was  to  go  down 
with  Sheridan  to  assist  Louis  Napoleon  to  get  his  French  army 
out  of  Mexico.  A  personal  reconnoissance  of  Sheridan  in  Mexico> 
and  the  virile  diplomacy  of  Seward,  deprived  us  of  that  outing. 
The  French  army  with  its  monarchy  vanished  from  the  shores 
of  Mexico,  leaving  a  stain  on  the  pride  of  France  and  a  fearful 
fate  for  Maximillian  and  poor  Carlotta. 

Contemplate  for  a  moment,  what  would  have  been  the  situ- 
ation, if  in  any  event,  Louis  had  got  his  foothold  in  Louisiana 
under  color  of  title;  and  what  the  task  might  have  been  for  either 
the  North  or  the  South,  or  both  together,  to  recover  that  holding 
and  the  control  of  the  mighty  Mississippi,  sea-road  for  the  com- 
merce of  half  our  Atlantic  slope. 

Let  us  now  take  a  closer  view,  and  consider  the  great  em- 
barrassments of  the  president  in  treating  a  domestic  insurrec- 
tion under  the  laws  of  war;  when  compelled  to  use  the  military 
forces  of  the  nation,  not  in  aid  of  the  civil  authority,  and  under 
its  regulation,  as  in  common  cases,  but  to  replace  and  super- 
sede it. 

In  spirit  war  and  law  are  opposed:  the  end  of  one  is  the 
beginning  of  the  other.  Still,  upon  occasion,  they  are  made 
reciprocally  supporting.  War  is  brought  to  support  law,  and 
law  is  applied  to  regulate  war.  An  armed  rebellion  is  war, 
and  all  its  consequences  are  involved.     We  did  not  realize  this 

17 


at  first.  Military  force  in  time  of  war  stands  on  a  very  different 
basis  from  that  when  it  is  called  to  the  aid  of  the  civil  authority. 
The  strict  limitations  in  the  latter  case  are  much  relaxed;  indeed 
quite  replaced.  Military  law  regulates  the  conduct  of  armies, 
and  is  prescribed  by  the  civil  authority.  Martial  law  is  some- 
thing beyond  this;  it  is  the  arbitrary  will  of  the  commander,  and 
operates  upon  civilians  and  citizens.  This  justifies  itself  by 
"necessity,"  which,  it  is  said,  "knows  no  law."  So  things  have 
to  be  done  which  in  time  of  peace  are  illegal;  yet  are  justified  by 
the  inherent  law  of  sovereignty, — the  law  of  life. 

I  shall  not  attempt  to  enumerate  all  the  consequences  in- 
volved in  the  operation  of  belligerent  rights.  By  the  law  of 
nations  strictly  speaking  provinces  or  communities  in  revolt 
have  no  rights.  Concessions  to  such  are  not  made  on  their 
account,  but  from  considerations  of  policy  on  the  part  of  the 
dominant  state,  or  of  humanity. 

Some  of  the  privileges  granted  to  recognized  belligerents 
are  well  known ;  such  as  flags  and  passages  of  truce  for  occasions 
of  need  or  mercy;  exchange  of  prisoners;  immunity  of  hospitals 
and  perhaps  of  homes.  But  on  the  other  hand,  and  for  the  larger 
range,  there  are  corresponding  liabilities  involved  in  these 
"rights,"  and  of  a  most  serious  nature.  They  follow  the  right 
to  capture,  confiscate  and  destroy  enemy's  property;  to  arrest, 
capture  and  imprison  persons  of  the  enemy;  to  employ  and 
emancipate  slaves  of  the  enemy;  to  suspend  or  reduce  civil  and 
political  rights  of  a  community  brought  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  arms,  leaving  them  only  the  rights  of  a  conquered  territory 
under  the  laws  of  war. 

This  would  seem  to  be  enough  to  task  the  best  ability  and  con- 
science in  any  case.  But  in  a  case  of  intensified  and  enlarged 
domestic  insurrection,  where  the  insurgents  are  claiming  in- 
dependent sovereign  capacity,  denied  and  resisted  by  the  parent 
people,  which  on  the  other  hand  regards  them  as  rightly  and  in 
fact  part  of  itself, — how  to  concede  belligerent  rights  and  yet 
avoid  acknowledgment  of  the  competency  of  the  antagonist  to 
be  a  party  to  the  agreement,  is  a  task  for  tact  and  wisdom  of 
no  common  order.  And  the  necessity  of  applying  the  laws  of 
war  to  fellow  citizens  must  bring  grievous  problems  to  the 
head  and  heart. 

Practical  questions  also  were  forced  upon  the  president,  beyond 

is 


the  sphere  of  ordinary  peace  or  war,  for  the  determination  of 
which  there  was  no  precedent,  nor  certain  warrant.  Questions 
of  statesmanship,  of  political  ethics,  and  constitutional  inter- 
pretation, such  as  kept  our  Congress  and  Supreme  Court  busy 
for  years  afterwards,  had  to  be  acted  on  practically  and  promptly 
by  him. 

He  took  to  himself  no  credit  for  anything.  After  years  of 
the  struggle  and  many  dark  and  discouraging  aspects  of  the  is- 
sue, just  before  the  yet  darker  depths  of  the  terrible  campaign 
of  '64,  he  writes  this  self-abasing  sentence:  "I  claim  not  to  have 
controlled  events;  but  confess  that  events  have  controlled  me." 
We  can  judge  better  about  that,  perhaps,  than  he  could,  envel- 
oped in  the  mesh  of  circumstance.  We  know  how  disturbed 
were  the  polarities  of  compelling  forces,  and  how  firm  the  guid- 
ance, how  consummate  the  mastery.  To  our  eyes  he  sat  high 
above  the  tumult,  watching  events,  meeting  them,  turning  them 
to  serve  the  great  purpose.  So  far  and  so  far  only,  did  events 
control  him. 

He  felt  himself  upborne  by  the  power  of  his  obligation,  as 
charged  with  a  duty  like  that  of  the  Roman  consul:  "to  see 
to  it  that  the  Republic  suffered  no  detriment."  The  rule  of 
such  emergency  is  that, — also  Roman, — which  constitutions 
involve  but  do  not  enunciate,  warrantable  only  in  the  last  ex- 
tremity: "Salus  popidi,  suprema  lex."  The  salvation  of  the 
people  is  supreme  law! 

Take  the  instance  of  the  Emancipation  Proclamation.  I 
remember  well  that  many  high  officers  of  our  army  disapproved 
this  in  heart  and  mind,  if  they  dared  not  in  speech.  They 
thought  the  president  had  no  right  to  proclaim  this  intention 
nor  power  to  carry  it  into  effect.  But  they  had  not  deeply 
enough  studied  the  implications  of  the  constitution  of  their 
country,  or  those  of  the  laws  of  war.  They  had  to  take  a  post- 
graduate course  in  their  own  profession.  Indeed,  upon  political 
matters  the  habitual  thought  of  us  all  was  related  to  a  con- 
dition of  domestic  peace,  and  did  not  contemplate  war  at  the 
center  of  life. 

So  our  Congress,  just  before  the  breaking  out  of  the  rebellion, 
in  the  hope  to  avoid  war  and  to  save  the  Union,  had  unani- 
mously passed  a  resolution  that  "neither  the  Federal  govern- 
ment nor  the  free  States  had  any  right  to  legislate  upon  or  in- 

19 


terfere  with  slavery  in  any  of  the  slave-holding  States  of  the 
Union."  This  seems  more  like  an  utterance  under  duress,  than 
a  deliberate  interpretation  of  the  Constitution.  They  did  not 
foresee  the  construction  as  well  as  the  destruction  involved  in 
war. 

Even  for  the  president  there  was  a  progressive  revelation. 
At  his  inauguration  he  had  publicly  affirmed  that  he  had  no 
intention,  directly  or  indirectly,  of  interfering  with  the  in- 
stitution of  slavery  in  the  States  where  it  existed.  "I  believe 
I  have  not  the  right,  and  I  am  sure  I  have  not  the  desire,"  he 
adds.  He  was  then  viewing  the  matter  under  the  precedents 
of  peaceful  times.  The  deep  reach  of  his  constitutional  powers 
in  time  of  supreme  peril  of  the  Country  had  not  been  brought 
to  light  as  it  was  under  the  tremendous  tests  of  a  vast  and 
devastating  war.  It  came  to  him  but  slowly.  He  seemed  re- 
luctant to  avail  himself  of  it.  Later  we  find  him  saying  in 
effect:  "My  purpose  is  to  save  this  Union.  I  will  save  it  without 
slavery,  if  I  can;  with  slavery,  if  I  must." 

When  in  the  course  of  events  the  war-powers  of  the  president 
emerged,  they  appeared  with  a  content  and  extent  not  dreamed 
of  before.  He  took  them  to  a  high  tribunal.  He  almost  made 
a  covenant  with  God  that  if  the  terrible  blow  threatening  the 
life  of  the  country  was  broken  at  Antietam,  he  would  emancipate 
the  slaves  in  the  territory  of  the  rebellion.  The  thought  was  not 
new.  The  laws  of  war  gave  to  commanders  in  the  field  the  right 
to  break  down  all  the  forces  supporting  the  enemy;  and  two  of 
his  generals  had  declared  the  freedom  of  the  slaves  within  their 
military  jurisdiction.  He  promptly  rebuked  them  and  counter- 
manded their  proclamations.  This  was  not  work  for  a  sub- 
ordinate. So  grave,  so  deep-reaching,  so  far-reaching,  were 
its  necessary  effects,  he  reserved  the  prerogative  for  the  chief 
commander  and  the  last  resort. 

This  was  not  because  of  immaturity  of  purpose,  nor  fear  to  act ; 
but  because  he  chose  to  wait  until  the  terrible  sufferings  and  cost 
of  war  made  this  measure  seem  a  mitigation,  and  the  right  and 
necessity  of  it  so  clear  that  the  Country  and  the  world  must 
acquiesce.  He  did  this,  not  because  slavery  was  the  cause  of 
the  war,  but  because  it  was  a  muniment  of  war  waged  against  the 
life  of  the  people.  He  set  the  appointed  time  and  conditions 
when,  within  the  territory  of  the  rebellion,  the  slaves  should  be 

20 


freed.     The    time    came, — and    the    proclamation,    deep    with 
thought  as  with  consequence.     This,  the  conclusion : 

"And  upon  this  act,  sincerely  believed  to  be  an  act  of  justice, 
warranted  by  the  Constitution,  upon  military  necessity,  I  in- 
voke the  considerate  judgment  of  mankind,  and  the  gracious 
favor  of  Almighty  God!" 

Observe  the  grounds  of  this:  Justice,  the  eternal  law  of  right- 
eousness; political  right,  warrant  of  the  constitution;  military 
necessity,  for  the  salvation  of  the  people;  the  approving  judg- 
ment of  man;  the  confirmation  of  God.  This  justification  of 
the  act  was  the  revelation  of  the  man.  Without  precedent 
of  authority,  or  parallel  in  history,  but  as  it  were,  "sub  specie 
eterni" — in  the  aspect  of  the  infinite,  he  spoke  freedom  to  the 
slave!  That  voice  was  of  the  ever-coming  "Word"  that  works 
God's  will  in  His  World! 

Lo !  this  the  outcome  of  belligerent  rights,  and  the  wilful  appeal 
to  the  arbitrament  of  arms!  Astounding  annunciation  of  the 
powers  of  the  president  for  the  people's  defence;  and  the  dis- 
covery that  not  only  military  law,  but  also  the  absolute  authority 
and  summary  processes  of  martial  law,  are  part  of  the  Constitu- 
tion, part  of  the  supreme  law  of  the  land.  Had  the  leaders 
in  the  arrogant  pretension  of  self-sufficiency  and  the  frenzied 
rush  to  war,  understood  the  reach  of  this,  they  would  have  hesi- 
tated to  commit  their  cause  to  the  wager  of  battle.  And  any 
future  plotter  against  the  nation's  integrity  and  truth,  may  well 
pause  before  waking  that  slumbering  lion  at  the  gates  of  her 
life! 

It  was,  indeed,  a  "domestic  problem"  which  Lincoln  had  be- 
fore him, — a  wide  one,  and  a  far  one, — to  save  his  country. 
We  think  it  was  worth  saving.     The  world  thinks  so,  too : 

An  outcome  of  Lincoln's  heart  and  mind  was  the  projection 
into  military  law  of  a  deep  and  wide  humanity.  We  well  knew 
his  sympathy  and  tenderness  towards  the  young  soldier  and  the 
all-surrendering  mother.  He  often  superseded  the  death 
sentence  for  sleeping  on  post,  pronounced  upon  the  new-coming 
youth  unseasoned  by  discipline  and  the  habit  of  hardship. 

All  the  lessons  drawn  from  that  stern  experience  of  his,  are 
embodied  in  the  famous  General  Order  Number  ioo,  published 
to  the  army  in  1863. 

It  was  a  reconstruction,  a  regeneration,  of  the  rules  of  war. 


21 


The  necessity  of  stern  justice  and  rigorous  discipline  recognized ; 
but  all  tempered  by  great-hearted  recognition  of  the  manhood 
of  man!  The  notable  thing  about  this  is,  that  it  has  been 
adopted,  word  for  word,  by  nation  after  nation,  and  is  to-day 
part  of  the  international  law  of  the  civilized  world. 

And  the  power  of  this  nation's  influence  in  the  world 
to-day, — the  reason  why  her  intervention  sets  free  an  oppressed 
people,  her  word  speaks  peace  to  embattled  nations,  and  her 
wish  prevents  the  dismemberment  of  empires, — is  not  so  much 
in  the  might  of  her  fleets  and  armies,  splendid  as  these  are,  but 
because  of  her  character,  the  confidence  of  the  nations  in  her 
justice,  and  truth,  and  honor!  Look  at  her!  Her  mission  is 
peace  and   light  and   liberty!     Her   flag  speaks  hope   to   man! 

Who  can  tell  what  part  in  all  this  is  Abraham  Lincoln! 

I  would  speak  now  of  him  as  he  was  seen  and  known  more 
intimately  by  the  army  in  the  field.  We  had  often  opportunity 
to  see  him, — for  some  occasions,  too  often.  Sometimes  he  came 
for  conference  with  commanders  amidst  actual  conditions, 
where  he  could  see  for  himself,  and  not  through  casual  or  official 
reports.  Sometimes,  from  conferences  with  cabinet,  or  Con- 
gressmen, or  ministers  of  other  powers,  holding  suggestions 
of  deep  import. 

But  always  after  a  great  battle,  and  especially  disaster,  we 
were  sure  to  see  him,  slow  riding  through  camp,  with  outward 
or  inward-searching  eyes, — questioning  and  answering  heart. 
His  figure  was  striking;  stature  and  bearing  uncommon  and 
commanding.  The  slight  stoop  of  the  shoulders,  an  attitude 
of  habitual  in-wrapped  thought,  not  of  weakness,  of  any  sort. 
His  features,  strong;  if  homely,  then  because  standing  for 
rugged  truth.  In  his  deep,  over-shadowed  eyes,  a  look  as 
from  the  innermost  of  things.  Over  all  this  would  come  at 
times  a  play,  or  pathos,  of  expression  in  which  his  deeper  per- 
sonality outshone.  His  voice  was  rich ;  its  modulations,  musical ; 
his  words  most  fitting. 

I  have  scarcely  seen  picture  or  sculpture  which  does  him 
justice.  The  swarm  of  caricaturists  with  their  various  motives 
and  instructions,  have  given  a  very  wrong  impression  of  him, — 
unfortunately  too  lasting.  There  was  something  of  him, — 
and  the  greatest  and  most  characteristic, — which  refused  to 
be  imaged  in  earthly  form. 


22 


In  his  action  there  was  a  gravity  and  moderation  which  the 
trivial  might  misinterpret  as  awkwardness,  but  which  came  from 
the  dignity  of  reserved  power.  Those  who  thought  to  smile 
when  that  figure, — mounting,  with  the  tall  hat,  to  near  seven 
feet, — was  to  be  set  on  a  spirited  horse  for  a  ceremonial  excursion, 
were  turned  to  admiration  at  the  easy  mastery  he  showed; 
and  the  young-staff  game  of  testing  civilians  by  touching  up 
the  horses  to  headlong  speed  returning  over  a  course  they  had 
mischievously  laid,  with  sudden  crossings  of  old  rifle-pit  and 
ditch,  proved  a  boomerang  for  them,  when  he  would  come  out 
the  only  rider  square  in  his  saddle,  with  head  level  and  rightly 
crowned. 

In  familiar  intercourse  he  was  courteous  and  kindly.  He 
seemed  to  find  rest  in  giving  way  to  a  strain  of  humor  that  was 
in  him.  On  a  moot  question,  his  good  story,  sharp  with  apt 
analogy,  was  likely  to  close  the  discussion, — sometimes  at  the 
expense  of  a  venturesome  proposer.  There  was  a  roll  of  mischief 
in  his  eye,  which  eased  the  situation. 

We  were  glad  to  see  that  facility  of  counterpoise  in  him; 
for  we  knew  too  deeply  well,  the  burden  that  was  even  then 
pressing  on  his  spirit,  and  our  laughter  was  light  and  brief. 

But  always  he  wished  to  see  the  army  together.  This  had 
a  being,  a  place,  a  power,  beyond  the  aggregate  of  its  individual 
units.  A  review  was  therefore  held,  in  completeness  and  most 
careful  order.  Slowly  he  rode  along  front  and  rear  of  the  opened 
ranks,  that  he  might  see  all  sides  of  things  as  they  were.  Every 
horse  was  scanned:  that  is  one  way  to  know  the  master.  We 
could  see  the  deep  sadness  in  his  face,  and  feel  the  burden  on  his 
heart,  thinking  of  his  great  commission  to  save  this  people, 
and  knowing  that  he  could  do  this  no  otherwise  than  as  he 
had  been  doing, — by  and  through  the  manliness  of  these  men, — 
the  valor,  the  steadfastness,  the  loyalty,  the  devotion,  the 
sufferings  and  thousand  deaths,  of  those  into  whose  eyes  his  were 
looking.  How  he  shrunk  from  the  costly  sacrifice  we  could  see; 
and  we  took  him  into  our  hearts  with  answering  sympathy, 
and  gave  him  our  pity  in  return. 

There  came  a  day  of  offering,  not  of  his  appointing.  His  day 
came;  and  a  shroud  of  darkness  fell  on  us.  The  surrender  was 
over;  the  all-commanding  cause  triumphant.  Lee's  army  had 
ceased  to  be.     That  solid  phalanx  we  had  faced  through  years 

23 


of  mortal  struggle,  had  vanished  as  into  air.  The  arms  that 
had  poured  storms  of  death  upon  us,  had  been  laid  at  our  feet 
The  flags  that  had  marked  the  path  of  that  manly  valor  which 
gave  them  a  glory  beyond  their  creed,  had  been  furled  forever. 
The  men  who  in  the  inscrutable  workings  of  the  human  will  had 
struck  against  the  flag  that  stood  for  their  own  best  good,  were 
returning  to  restore  their  homes  and  citizenship  in  a  regenerated 
country. 

We  were  two  days  out  from  Appomattox, — a  strange  vacancy 
before  our  eyes;  a  silent  joy  in  our  hearts.  Suddenly  a  foam- 
flecked,  mud-splashed  rider  hands  a  telegram.  No  darkest  hour 
of  the  dismal  years  ever  brought  such  message.  "The  President 
assassinated!  Deep  plots  at  the  Capital!"  How  dare  to  let  the 
men  know  of  this?  Who  could  restrain  the  indignation,  the 
agony,  the  frenzy  of  revenge?  Whether  they  would  turn  to 
the  destruction  of  every  remnant  and  token  of  the  rebellion 
around  them,  or  rush  to  the  rescue  of  Washington  and  ven- 
geance upon  the  whole  brood  of  assassins,  was  the  alternative 
question.  We  marched  and  bivouacked  with  a  double  guard 
on  our  troops,  and  with  guarded  words. 

Two  days  after,  came  from  the  War  Department  the  order 

to  halt  the  march  and  hold  all  still,  while  the  funeral  farewell 

.  was  passing  at  the  capital.     Then  why  not  for  us  a  funeral? 

For  the  shadow  of  him  was  to  pass  before  us  that  day,  and  we 

would  review  him! 

The  veterans  of  terrible  campaigns,  the  flushed  faces  from 
Appomattox,  the  burning  hearts  turned  homewards,  mighty 
memories  and  quenchless  love  held  innermost; — these  were 
gathered  and  formed  in  great  open  square, — the  battered  flags 
brought  to  the  front  of  each  regiment;  the  bright  arms  stacked 
in  line  behind  them;  sword-hilts  wreathed  in  crape;  chief  offi- 
cers of  the  Corps  on  a  platform  of  army-chests  at  the  open  face 
of  the  square, — their  storied  flags  draped  and  clustered  in  signif- 
icant escutcheon.  The  commander  of  the  Division  presiding, — 
the  senior  chaplain  called  beside  him.  The  boom  of  the  great 
minute-guns  beats  against  our  hearts;  the  deep  tones  echoing 
their  story  of  the  years.  Catching  the  last  note  of  the  cannon- 
boom,  strikes  in  the  soulful  German  band,  with  that  wondrous 
"Russian  Hymn"  whose  music  we  knew  so  well: 

24 


"God  the  All-terrible;  Thou  who  ordainest 
Thunder  Thy  clarion,  and  lightning  Thy  sword!" 

that  overmastering  flood  of  whelming  chords,  with  the  breath- 
stilling  chromatic  cadences,  as  if  to  prepare  us  for  whatever 
life  or  death  could  bring. 

A  few  words  from  the  commander,  and  the  warm  Irish  heart 
of  the  chaplain  wings  its  eloquence  through  the  hearts  of  that 
deep-experienced,  stern,  loving,  remembering,  impressionable 
assembly.  Well  that  the  commander  was  there,  to  check  the 
flaming  orator!  Men  could  not  bear  it.  You  could  not,  were 
I  able  to  repeat  it  here.  His  text  was  thrilling:  "And  she,  being 
instructed  of  her  mother,  said:  'Give  me  here  the  head  of  John 
the  Baptist  in  a  charger'!"  Then  the  application.  Lincoln 
struck  down  because  so  high  in  innocence,  in  integrity,  in  truth, 
in  loyalty,  in  fidelity  to  the  people.  Then  the  love  he  bore  to 
them,  and  they  to  him;  that  communion  of  sorrows,  that  brother- 
hood of  suffering,  that  made  them  one  with  him  in  soul.  Then 
the  dastard  hand  that  had  struck  him  down  in  the  midst  of  acts 
of  mercy,  and  words  of  great-hearted  charity  and  good  will- 
The  spirit  of  hate,  that  struck  at  his  life,  was  the  spirit  that  struck 
at  the  life  of  the  people. 

"And  will  you  endure  this  sacrilege,"  he  cried.  "Will  you  not 
rather  sweep  such  a  spirit  out  of  the  land  forever,  and  cast  it,  root 
and  branch,  into  everlasting  burning!"  Men's  faces  flushed  and 
paled.  Their  muscles  trembled.  I  saw  them  grasp  as  for  their 
stacked  muskets, — instinctively,  from  habit,  not  knowing  what 
else,  or  what,  to  do.  The  speaker  stopped.  He  stood  trans- 
fixed. I  seized  his  arm.  "Father  Egan,  you  must  not  slop! 
Turn  this  excitement  to  some  good!"  "I  will,"  he  whispers. 
Then,  lifting  his  arm  full  height,  he  brought  it  down  with  a 
tremendous  sweep,  as  if  to  gather  in  the  whole  quivering  circle 
before  him,  and  went  on.  "But  better  so!  Better  to  die  glorious, 
than  to  live  infamous!  Better  to  be  buried  beneath  a  nation's 
tears,  than  to  walk  the  earth  guilty  of  a  nation's  blood!  Better, — 
thousand-fold,  forever  better,  Lincoln  dead,  than  Davis  living!" 

Then  admonished  of  the  passion  he  was  again  arousing,  he 
passed  to  an  exhortation  that  rose  into  a  prayer ;  then  to  a  paean 
of  victory;  and  with  an  oath  of  new  consecration  to  the  undying 

25 


cause  of  freedom  and  right,  he  gave  us  back  to  ourselves,  better 
soldiers,  and  better  men. 

That  was  our  apotheosis  of  Lincoln.  He  passed  up  through 
the  dark  gate  we  knew  so  well.  And  now  when  the  eyes  that 
were  wont  to  see  him  in  earthly  limitations,  behold  him  high 
amidst  the  deathless  ranks  marshalled  on  the  other  shore,  he 
stands  in  unfolded  grandeur.  Solitary  on  earth;  mightily 
companioned,  there! 

He  stands,  too,  upon  the  earth : 

"As  some  tall  cliff  that  lifts  its  awful  form, 
Swells  from  the  vale,  and  midway  leaves  the  storm; 

Though  round  its  breast  the  rolling  clouds  are  spread, 
Eternal  sunshine  settles  on  its  head !" 

His  magnanimity  has  touched  the  answering  heart  of  the 
chivalrous  South.     To  day,  all  do  him  reverence. 

There  he  stands, — like  the  Christ  of  the  Andes — reconciler 
of  the  divided ! 

And  more  than  this.  A  true  fame  grows.  Contemporary 
antagonisms  fall  away.  Prejudice  and  misconception  are 
effaced  by  better  knowledge.  The  pure  purpose  is  revealed 
under  broader  lights.  The  unforeseen,  far-reaching  good  effects 
are  more  and  more  acknowledged.  The  horizon  widens;  the 
image  lifts.  Land  after  land,  year  after  year;  nay, — century 
upon  century,  recognize  the  benefactor  as  they  come  to  realize 
the  benefaction. 

So,  more  and  more  for  the  Country's  well-being,  will  sound  the 
symphony  of  that  deep-themed  second  Inaugural,  majestic 
as  the  second  giving  of  the  law;  and  that  Gettysburg  speech, 
from  his  open  heart,  glorious  with  devotion,  sublime  with 
prophecy.  Beyond  the  facts  which  history  can  record, — the 
deliverance  and  vindication  of  a  people  in  peril  of  its  honor 
and  its  life,  and  the  revelation  of  the  stored-up  powers  vouch- 
safed to  him  who  is  charged  with  the  salvation  of  his  country, — 
there  will  be  for  this  man  an  ever  unfolding  record. 

More  and  more  the  consecrating  oath  of  that  great  purpose: 
"With  malice  towards  none;  with  charity  for  all;  following  the 
right,  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right,"  will  be  the  watch- word 

26 


of  the  world.  Coming  time  will  carry  forward  this  great  example 
of  the  consecration  of  power,  self-commanding,  and  so  all- 
commanding,  for  the  well-being  of  the  people,  and  the  worth  of 
man  as  man.  This  example,  lifted  up  before  the  nations, 
support  and  signal  of  the  immortal  endeavor, — the  human 
return  to  God! 

So  we  look  forward,  and  not  backward,  for  the  place  of  Abra- 
ham Lincoln! 


27 


Second    Inaugural   Address   of 
President   Abraham   Lincoln. 

DELIVERED  AT  WASHINGTON  D    C. 
SATURDAY  MARCH  4  1865 

Read  by  Captain  John  P.  Green. 

Fellow-Countrymen:  At  this  second  appearing  to  take  the 
oath  of  the  presidential  office,  there  is  less  occasion  for  an  ex- 
tended address  than  there  was  at  the  first.  Then  a  statement, 
somewhat  in  detail,  of  a  course  to  be  pursued,  seemed  fitting  and 
proper.  Now,  at  the  expiration  of  four  years,  during  which 
public  declarations  have  been  constantly  called  forth  on  every 
point  and  phase  of  the  great  contest  which  still  absorbs  the  at- 
tention and  engrosses  the  energies  of  the  nation,  little  that  is 
new  could  be  presented.  The  progress  of  our  arms,  upon  which 
all  else  chiefly  depends,  is  as  well  known  to  the  public  as  to  my- 
self;  and  it  is,  I  trust,  reasonably  satisfactory  and  encouraging  to 
all.  With  high  hope  for  the  future,  no  prediction  in  regard  to  it 
is  ventured. 

On  the  occasion  corresponding  to  this  four  years  ago,  all 
thoughts  were  anxiously  directed  to  an  impending  civil  war. 
All  dreaded  it — all  sought  to  avert  it.  While  the  inaugural 
address  was  being  delivered  from  this  place,  devoted  altogether 
to  saving  the  Union  without  war,  insurgent  agents  were  in  the 
city  seeking  to  destroy  it  without  war — seeking  to  dissolve  the 
Union,  and  divide  effects,  by  negotiation.  Both  parties  de- 
precated war;  but  one  of  them  would  make  war  rather  than  let 
the  nation  survive;  and  the  other  would  accept  war  rather  than 
let  it  perish.     And  the  war  came. 

One-eighth  of  the  whole  population  were  colored  slaves,  not 
distributed  generally  over  the  Union,  but  localized  in  the  South- 
ern part  of  it.  These  slaves  constituted  a  peculiar  and  powerful 
interest.  All  knew  that  this  interest  was,  somehow,  the  cause 
of  the  war.     To  strengthen,  perpetuate,  and  extend  this  interest 

29 


was  the  object  for  which  the  insurgents  would  rend  the  Union, 
even  by  war;  while  the  government  claimed  no  right  to  do  more 
than  to  restrict  the  territorial  enlargement  of  it. 

Neither  party  expected  for  the  war  the  magnitude  or  the  dura- 
tion which  it  has  already  attained.  Neither  anticipated  that 
the  cause  of  the  conflict  might  cease  with,  or  even  before,  the 
conflict  itself  should  cease.  Each  looked  for  an  easier  triumph, 
and  a  result  less  fundamental  and  astounding.  Both  read  the 
same  Bible,  and  pray  to  the  same  God;  and  each  invokes  his 
aid  against  the  other.  It  may  seem  strange  that  any  men  should 
dare  to  ask  a  just  God's  assistance  in  wringing  their  bread  from 
the  sweat  of  other  men's  faces;  but  let  us  judge  not,  that  we  be 
not  judged.  The  prayers  of  both  could  not  be  answered — that 
of  neither  has  been  answered  fully. 

The  Almighty  has  his  own  purposes.  "Woe  unto  the  world 
because  of  offenses!  for  it  must  needs  be  that  offenses  come; 
but  woe  to  that  man  by  whom  the  offense  cometh."  If  we  shall 
suppose  that  American  slavery  is  one  of  those  offenses  which, 
in  the  providence  of  God,  must  needs  come,  but  which,  having 
continued  through  his  appointed  time,  he  now  wills  to  remove, 
and  that  he  gives  to  both  North  and  South  this  terrible  war, 
as  the  woe  due  to  those  by  whom  the  offense  came,  shall 
we  discern  therein  any  departure  from  those  divine  attributes 
which  the  believers  in  a  living  God  always  ascribe  to  him? 
Fondly  do  we  hope — fervently  do  we  pray — that  this  mighty 
scourge  of  war  may  speedily  pass  away.  Yet,  if  God  wills  that 
it  continue  until  all  the  wealth  piled  by  the  bondman's  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years  of  unrequitted  toil  shall  be  sunk,  and 
until  every  drop  of  blood  drawn  with  the  lash  shall  be  paid  by 
another  drawn  with  the  sword,  as  was  said  three  thousand 
years  ago,  so  still  it  must  be  said,  "The  judgments  of  the  Lord 
are  true  and  righteous  altogether." 

With  malice  toward  none;  with  charity  for  all;  with  firmness 
in  the  right,  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right,  let  us  strive  on  to 
finish  the  work  we  are  in;  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wounds;  to 
care  for  him  who  shall  have  borne  the  battle,  and  for  his  widow, 
and  his  orphan — to  do  all  which  may  achieve  and  cherish  a 
just  and  lasting  peace  among  ourselves,  and  with  all  nations. 


30 


LINCOLN 

Read  by  the  Author,  Mr.  Hermann  HagEdorn 

Let  silence  sink  upon  the  hills  and  vales! 

Over  the  towns  where  smoke  and  clangor  tell 
Their  glad  and  sorrowfully  noble  tales 

Of  women  bent  with  care,  of  men  who  labor  well, 
Let  silence  sink  and  peace  and  rest  from  toil. 

Oh,  vast  machines,  be  still !     Oh,  hurrying  men, 
Eddying  like  chaff  upon  the  frothy  moil 

Of  seething  waters,  rest !     In  tower  and  den, 
High  in  the  heavens,  deep  in  the  cavernous  ground, 
There  where  men's  hearts  like  pulsing  engines  bound. 
Let  silence  lull  with  loving  hands  the  sound. 

Silence — ah,  through  the  silence,  clear  and  strong, 
Surging  like  wind-driven  breakers   sweeps  a  song ! 

Out  of  the  North,  loud  from  storm-beaten  strings, 
Out  of  the  East,  with  strife-born  ardor  loud, 
Out  of  the  West,  youthful  and  glad  and  proud, 

The  cry  of  honor,  honor,  honor,  rings. 
And  clear,  with  trembling  mouth 
Sipping  in  dreams  the  bitter  cup,  the  South 

Magnanimous  unfeigned  tribute  brings. 

Oh,  prosperous  millions,  hush  your  grateful  cries ! 
The  sanctity  of  things  not  of  this  earth 
Broods  on  this  place — 
Wide  things  and  essences  that  have  their  birth 
In  the  unwalled,  unmeasured  homes  of  space; 
Spirits  of  men  that  went  and  left  no  trace — 
Only  their  labor  to  attest  their  worth 
In  the  world's  tear-dim,  unforgetting  eyes: 
Spirits  of  heroes!  Hark! 
Through  the  shadow-mists,  the  dark, 
Hear  the  tramp,  tramp,  tramp  of  marchers,  living,  who  were  cold  and  stark! 
Hear  the  bugle,  hear  the  fife ! 
How  they  scorn  the  grave! 
Oh,  on  earth  is  love  and  life 

For  the  noble,  for  the  brave. 
And  it's  tread,  tread,  tread! 
From  the  camp-fires  of  the  dead, 
Oh,  they're  marching,  they  are  marching  with  their  Captain  at  their  head ! 
Greet  them  who  have  gone  before ! 
Spread  with  rose  and  bay  the  floor — 
They  have  come,  oh,  they  have  come,  back  once  more ! 

3i 


Give  for  the  soldier  the  cheer, 
For  the  messmate  the  welcoming  call, 
But  for  him,  the  noblest  of  all, 
Silence  and  reverence  here. 
Oh,  patient  eyes,  oh,  bleeding,  mangled  heart 
Oh,  hero,  whose  wide  soul,  defying  chains, 
Swept  at  each  army's  head, 
Swept  to  the  charge  and  bled, 
Gathering  in  one  too  sorrow-laden  heart 
All  woes,  all  pains: 

The  anguish  of  the  trusted  hope  that  wanes, 
The  soldier's  wound,  the  lonely  mourner's  smart 
He  knew  the  noisy  horror  of  the  fight. 
From  dawn  to  dusk  and  through  the  hideous  night, 
He  heard  the  hiss  of  bullets,  the  shrill  scream 

Of  the  wide-arching  shell, 
Scattering  at  Gettysburg  or  by  Potomac's  stream, 
Like  summer  showers,  the  pattering  rain  of  death 
With  every  breath, 

He  tasted  battle  and  in  every  dream, 

Trailing  like  mists  from  gaping  walls  of  hell, 
He  heard  the  thud  of  heroes  as  they  fell. 
Oh,  man  of  many  sorrows,  'twas  your  blood 
That  flowed  at  Chickamauga,  at  Bull  Run, 
Vicksburg,  Antietam  and  the  gory  wood 
And  Wilderness  of  ravenous  Deaths  that  stood 
Round  Richmond  like  a  ghostly  garrison: 
Your  blood  for  those  who  won, 
For  those  who  lost,  your  tears ! 
For  you  the  strife,  the  fears, 
For  us,  the  sun! 
For  you  the  lashing  winds  and  the  beating  rain  in  your  eyes 
For  us  the  ascending  stars  and  the  wide,  unbounded  skies. 

Oh,  man  of  storms!     Patient  and  kingly  soul! 

Oh,  wise  physician  of  a  wasted  land ! 

A  nation  felt  upon  its  heart  your  hand, 
And  lo,  your  hand  hath  made  the  shattered,  whole 
With  iron  clasp  your  hand  hath  held  the  wheel 
Of  the  lurching  ship,  on  tempest  waves,  no  keel 

Hath  ever  sailed. 

A  grim  smile  held  your  lips  while  strong  men  quailed. 

You  strove  alone  with  chaos  and  prevailed; 
You  felt  the  grinding  shock  and  did  not  reel. 
And,  ah,  your  hand  that  cut  the  battle's  path 
Wide  with  the  devastating  plague  of  wrath, 

Your  bleeding  hand,  gentle  with  pity  yet, 

Did  not  forget 
To  bless,  to  succor  and  to  heal. 

32 


Great  brother  to  the  lofty  and  the  low, 

Our  tears,  our  tears  give  tribute !     A  dark  throng, 

With  fetters  of  hereditary  wrong 
Chained,  serf-like,  in  the  choking  dust  of  woe, 
Lifts  up  its  arms  to  you,  lifts  up  its  cries! 
Oh,  you,  who  knew  all  anguish,  in  whose  eyes, 

Pity,  with  tear-stained  face, 
Kept  her  long  vigil  o'er  the  severed  lands 

For  friend  and  foe,  for  race  and  race ; 
You,  to  whom  all  were  brothers,  by  the  strands 

Of  spirit,  of  divinity, 

Bound  not  to  color,  church  or  sod, 
Only  to  man,  only  to  God ; 
You,  to  whom  all  beneath  the  sun 

Moved  to  one  hope,  one  destiny — 

Lover  of  liberty,  oh,  make  us  free ! 
Lover  of  union,  Master,  make  us  one ! 

Master  of  men  and  of  your  own  great  heart, 

We  stand  to  reverence,  we  cannot  praise. 

About  our  upward-straining  orbs,  the  haze 
Of  earthly  things,  the  strife,  the  mart, 

Rises  and  dims  the  far-flung  gaze. 

We  cannot  praise! 
We  are  too  much  of  earth,  our  teeming  minds, 
Made  master  of  the  beaten  seas  and  of  the  conquered  winds, 

Master  of  mists  and  the  subservient  air, 
Too  sure,  too  earthly  wise, 
Have  mocked  the  soul  within  that  asks  a  nobler  prize, 

And  hushed  her  prayer. 
We  know  the  earth,  we  know  the  starry  skies, 
And  many  gods  and  strange  philosophies; 

But  you,  because  you  opened  like  a  gate 

Your  soul  to  God,  and  knew  not  pride  nor  hate, 
Only  the  Voice  of  voices  whispering  low — 
You,  oh  my  Master,  you  we  cannot  know. 

Oh,  splendid  crystal,  in  whose  depths  the  light 

Of  God  refracted  healed  the  hearts  of  men, 
Teach  us  your  power! 
For  all  your  labor  is  a  withered  flower 

Thirsting  for  sunbeams  in  a  murky  den, 
Unless  a  voice  shatters  as  once  the  night, 

Crying,  Emancipation!  yet  again. 
For  we  are  slaves  to  petty,  temporal  things, 

Whipped  with  the  cords  of  prejudice,  and  bound 
Each  to  his  race,  his  creeds,  his  kings, 

Each  to  his  plot  of  sterile  ground, 

His  narrow-margined  daily  round. 

33 


Man  is  at  war  with  man  and  race  with  race. 
We  gaze  into  the  brother's  face 

And  never  see  the  crouching,  hungry  pain. 

Only  the  clanking  of  the  slavish  chain 
We  hear,  that  holds  us  to  our  place. 

Oh,  to  be  free,  oh,  to  be  one ! 
Shoulder  to  shoulder  to  strive  and  to  dare ! 
What  matter  the  race  if  the  labor  be  done, 
What  matter  the  color  if  God  be  there? 
Forward,  together,  onward  to  the  goal ! 
Oh,  mighty  Chief,  who  in  your  own  great  soul, 
Hung  with  the  fetters  of  a  lowly  birth, 
The  kinship  of  the  visionless,  the  obstinate  touch  of  earth, 
Broke  from  the  tethering  slavery,  and  stood 
Unbound,  translucent,  glorious  before  God! — 
Be  with  us,  Master!     These  unseeing  eyes 
Waken  to  light,  our  erring,  groping  hands 

Unfetter  for  a  world's  great  needs! 
Till,  like  Creation's  dawning,  golden  through  the  lands 
Leaping,  and  up  th*  unlit,  unconquered  skies, 

Surging  with  myriad  steeds, 
There  shall  arise 

Out  of  the  maze  of  clashing  destinies, 
Out  of  the  servitude  of  race  and  blood, 
One  flag,  one  law,  one  hope,  one  brotherhood. 


34 


Address  at  the  Dedication  of  the  Cemetery 
at  Gettysburg  November  19  1863 

Read  by  Brevet  Major  R.  Dale  Benson. 

Four  score  and  seven  years  ago  our  fathers  brought  forth  on 
this  continent,  a  new  nation,  conceived  in  Liberty,  and  dedi- 
cated to  the  proposition  that  all  men  are  created  equal. 

Now  we  are  engaged  in  a  great  civil  war,  testing  whether  that 
nation,  or  any  nation  so  conceived  and  so  dedicated,  can  long 
endure.  We  are  met  on  a  great  battle-field  of  that  war.  We 
have  come  to  dedicate  a  portion  of  that  field,  as  a  final  resting 
place  for  those  who  here  gave  their  lives  that  that  nation  might 
live.     It  is  altogether  fitting  and  proper  that  we  should  do  this. 

But,  in  a  larger  sense,  we  can  not  dedicate — we  can  not  conse- 
crate— we  can  not  hallow — this  ground.  The  brave  men,  living 
and  dead,  who  struggled  here,  have  consecrated  it,  far  above 
our  poor  power  to  add  or  detract.  The  world  will  little  note, 
nor  long  remember  what  we  say  here,  but  it  can  never  forget 
what  they  did  here.  It  is  for  us  the  living,  rather,  to  be  dedi- 
cated here  to  the  unfinished  work  which  they  who  fought  here 
have  thus  far  so  nobly  advanced.  It  is  rather  for  us  to  be  here 
dedicated  to  the  great  task  remaining  before  us — that  from  these 
honored  dead  we  take  increased  devotion  to  that  cause  for  which 
they  gave  the  last  full  measure  of  devotion — that  we  here  highly 
resolve  that  these  dead  shall  not  have  died  in  vain — that  this 
nation,  under  God,  shall  have  a  new  birth  of  freedom — and  that 
government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the  people,  shall 
not  perish  from  the  earth. 


35 


COMPLIMENTARY  CONCERT 

BY  THE 

UNITED    STATES    MARINE    BAND 

TENDERED  TO 

THE  UNION  LEAGUE  OF  PHILADELPHIA 

BY  THE 

commandery  of  the  state  of  pennsylvania 
Military  Order  of  the  Loyal  Legion  of  the  United  States 

Friday  Afternoon,  February  12   1909 

3  to  5  o'clock 


March — Lincoln  Centennial  (new)    ....  Sanford 

Overture — "Tannhauser" Wagner 

Serenade Schubert 

Paraphrase — "Lorely" Nesvadba 

Suite — L'Arlesienne  No.  1 Bizet 

Waltz — The  Bachelor             Santelmann 

Italien  Serenade  "Lola"' Friedemann 

March — The  Loyal  Legion Sousa 

Lieutenant  William  H.  Santelmann,  U.  S.  M.  C. 

Leader  of  Band 


36 


j)dilitary  Order  of  the  lioyal  liegion  of  the  United  ptates 

Headquarters  Commandery  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania 


Circular  No.  34. 

Series  of  190S. 
Whole  No.  640. 


Philadelphia,  November  2,  1908. 


I.  The  Companions  named  constitute  the  General  Committee 
of  Arrangements  for  the  Celebration  of  the  One  Hundredth 
Anniversary  of  the  Birth  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  Friday,  February 
12,  1909. 


RECEPTION 

Companions  R.  Dale  Benson 

Powell  Stackhouse 
Horace  Neide 
William  A.  Wiedersheim 
Joseph  Ashbrook 
James  A.  Beaver 
Frederick  I.  Naile 
Samuel  Goodman 
Edwin  N.  Benson 

DECORATIONS 

Companions  Sylvester  Bonnaffon  Jr 
Noble  D.  Preston 
Noah  H.  Swayne  2d 
L.  W.  Hicks 


John  Sailor 
Julius  A.  Kaiser 
H.  S.  Huidekoper 
George  A.  Lyon 
Thomas  Bohannan 
S.  Emlen  Meigs 
Ellicott  Fisher 
S.  L.  P.  Ayres 
Thomas  B.  Harper 


John  E.  Doughty 
F.  V.  Bonnaffon 
John  E.  Reilly 


PROGRAMME 


Companions  John  P.  Nicholson 
John  P.  Green 
E.  A.  Landell 


William  H.  Lambert 
John  P.  Taylor 


INVITATIONS 


Companions  George  W.  Melville 

Thomas  Skelton  Harrison 


John  P.  Nicholson 
John  O.  Foering 


37 


THE  PRESENCE  OF  VETERAN  ORGANIZATIONS 


Companions  Robert  B.  Beath 
J.  P.  S.  Gobin 
Moses  Veale 
H.  C.  Demming 
Geo.  Stephenson  Clark 
L.  G.  McCauley 
C.  F.  Gramlich 
E.  J.  Allen 


John  C.  Brown 
E.  M.  Boyle 
N.  W.  Sample 
W.  H.  Hutt 
L.  Buch 
W.  W.  Wallace 
L.  R.  Fortescue 


CHARGE  OF  ACADEMY  OF  MUSIC  FEBRUARY  12   1909 

Companions  Walter  George  Smith 
B.  Frank  Betts  Jr. 
William  C.  Wiedersheim 
E-  H.  Bell 
E.  Stanley  Perkins 


MUSIC 


H.  L.  Heulings 


Companions  O.  C.  Bosbyshell 
James  F.  Rusling 
John  F.  Hanscom 
Hunter  Brooke 
Joseph  H.  Thomas 


Charles  I.  Kent 

Alfred  Weeks 

W.  S.  Ashbrook 

William  J.  McMichael 

Francis  C.  Dade 

F.  C.  Gillingham 


Robert  Huey 
William  F.  Potter 
Augustine  T.  Lynch 
I.  W.  Heysinger 


WILLIAM  C.  WILLIAMSON,  Treasurer 


II.     The    Committees    will 
Commander  for  organization. 


meet    upon    notice    from    the 


By  command  of 

Rear-Admiral  GEORGE  W.  MELVILLE  U.  S.  N. 

Commander 

JOHN  P.  NICHOLSON 
Brevet  Lieutenant-Colonel  U.  S.  V. 
Recorder 


38 


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